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Xbox, PlayStation Twitch Channels Compromised at Gamescom

The official Xbox, PlayStation, and eSports League (ESL) Twitch channels were compromised this week at Gamescom, with a third-party posting unauthorized and offensive messages to the profiles.

Polygon reports that someone altered the titles for archived streams on the Xbox, PlayStation, and ESL Twitch channels with all kinds of terrible messages, including jokes about Microsoft’s exclusivity deal with Square Enix for Rise of the Tomb Raider and even fake announcements for new Fallout and Gears of War games. Others included racist and homophobic slurs.

According to a spokesperson for Twitch, the company believes the accounts were undermined by someone at Gamescom who was able to access a logged-in computer for Microsoft, Sony, and the ESL.

“We’re deleting the offensive VODs as soon as we find them and are alerting individual teams at the venue,” a Twitch representative said. “As a precautionary measure, we temporarily removed highlights and past broadcasts for those channels since it’s in the early hours of the morning in Cologne.”

For more on Gamescom, which runs through the weekend, check out GameSpot’s extended coverage of the show.

Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch
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